Editor’s note: Michigan Farm Bureau has coordinated with the candidates for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat and the gubernatorial race to provide their responses to four questions to help you learn more about the candidate, their background, and agriculture-related views. In the interest of fairness and objectivity, staff did not write or edit the candidates’ submissions. Each profile is presented as submitted by the candidates.
U.S. Senate Candidates: Mallory McMorrow, Mike Rogers, and Haley Stevens
Candidates for Governor: Jocelyn Benson, Mike Cox, Mike Duggan, John James, Perry Johnson, Aric Nesbitt, Ralph Rebandt, and Kim Thomas
John James – Republican Candidate for Governor
In your words, tell us who you are and why you’re the ideal candidate for Michigan governor.
A 2004 graduate of the United States Military Academy West Point, I served eight years in the U.S. Army as a Ranger-qualified aviation officer, having led Apache helicopter platoons in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Upon returning home in 2012, I led my family’s business, James Group International, creating new jobs and significantly increasing revenue.
Since election to Congress in 2022, I’ve been a fierce advocate for American farmers, workers, energy independence, and national security. As a candidate for Governor, I offer a unique combination of trusted leadership experience in business, government, and the military. Learn more about me at https://johnjamesmi.com/
What do you believe is the most pressing issue facing Michigan residents today, and what specific policies would you pursue as governor to address it?
The biggest problem facing Michigan residents is a state government that costs too much, regulates too aggressively, and produces too little in return. Under eight years of Governor Whitmer, Michigan has lost more than 25,000 manufacturing and business services jobs, ranks 49th in population growth, and carries a median household income roughly eleven percent below the national median. Families and young people are leaving — not because Michigan lacks opportunity, but because Lansing keeps taxing it away and regulating it to death.
My solution starts with eliminating the state income tax. Michigan's 4.25% income tax, combined with one of the highest property tax burdens in the Midwest and a 6% corporate tax rate, makes us one of the more expensive states in the nation in which to live, work, and build a business. The fastest-growing states in America have proven that when you let people keep what they earn, growth follows. I will fund the transition by doing what Whitmer never would: conducting a comprehensive audit of all state expenditures, eliminating wasteful DEI and ESG programs, and ending the billion-dollar handout schemes that have produced nothing but embarrassment. Government should be efficient and accountable — not a slush fund for political allies.
For Michigan's agricultural communities specifically, the answer also involves regulatory reform. Agencies like (D)EGLE have been adding layers of compliance requirements without adequate legislative oversight, scientific justification, or cost-benefit analysis. That ends in a John James administration. Every new rule will be required to clear a meaningful economic impact review.
Michigan agriculture is a major driver of the state’s economy and rural communities. What do you see as the greatest challenge facing Michigan farmers today, and how would your administration help address it?
The biggest challenge is regulatory overreach — agencies administering rules in ways that go beyond statutory authority, apply more stringent standards than federal law requires, and treat farmers as suspects rather than stewards. Michigan Farm Bureau's own policy explicitly supports requiring EGLE and other agencies to conduct science-based risk assessments, cost-benefit analyses, and economic impact statements before promulgating new rules. That standard is not being met today, and the consequences are real: livestock and dairy producers have been locked in litigation with EGLE for years over demands so burdensome they cannot be met without abandoning the operation entirely.
Our approach to public policy must be rooted in common sense and science instead of in emotion and ideology. The solution is a complete reset in the relationship between state government and Michigan's agricultural community. My administration will govern by the following principles:
The Right to Farm Act and GAAMPs are a model that works — not just legally, but practically. Governor Snyder's administration demonstrated that an incentive-based, voluntary compliance framework grounded in GAAMPs produces broader adoption of sound conservation practices than punitive command-and-control regulation. My administration will expand the GAAMPs framework by working closely with the Michigan Commission of Agriculture and Rural Development to update and strengthen GAAMPs across all relevant practice areas.
I will also ensure that MDARD, not (D)EGLE, is the primary interface between state government and Michigan farmers on agricultural regulatory matters — consistent with Farm Bureau's longstanding policy position. Education and compliance assistance, not enforcement-first approaches, will be the standard.
Michigan farmers depend on both a strong economy and healthy natural resources. How would you work to balance agricultural productivity, environmental stewardship, and regulatory certainty for landowners?
We need science-based, commonsense policy rather than emotion and ideology.
Genuine collaboration is possible, but it requires a Governor who will set the terms honestly rather than letting environmental advocacy groups dominate the process while farmers are consulted as an afterthought.
My approach has three requirements. First, every party must actually have a seat at the table from the beginning — not after the policy framework has already been drafted. Michigan Farm Bureau, agricultural commodity groups, conservation districts, and working farmers must be represented with equal standing alongside environmental organizations in any process that produces rules binding on the agricultural community. Second, outcomes must be grounded in peer-reviewed science and measurable, achievable goals. Policy built on aspiration rather than fact-based analysis produces endless conflict and poor environmental results. Michigan Farm Bureau's own policy states this clearly: standards that are applied consistently, with defined timelines and legitimate cost-benefit review, create the certainty that farmers need to plan and invest. Third, an effective tool for agricultural-environmental collaboration already exists — it is called the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program. MAEAP has produced over 7,000 farm verifications across the state, and it represents exactly the kind of voluntary, incentive-based approach that gets results without the litigation and resentment that punitive regulation generates. My administration will champion MAEAP as the primary model for agricultural environmental stewardship and fund it accordingly.
A John James administration will hold agencies accountable when they exceed their authority — and will equally hold agricultural producers accountable for compliance with legitimate standards.
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